What can cause you back pain and what can you do?

Back pain

Chronic back pain has many effects on day to day activities. Just getting out of bed in the morning can be painful and troublesome. Driving in your car for long periods of time can increase back pain. Similarly, back pain can be made worse by uncomfortable office chairs. This pain can be agitating and troubling. Experiencing constant pain can cause you to lose energy quickly, making you feel tired and depressed.

What can you do?

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If your back pain is not caused by any more serious problem, you can treat your back pain at home by taking an over the counter pain medication. Also, apply heat to your back to help to ease and relax your muscles. Painful muscle spasms in your back can benefit greatly from a gentle massage.

A memory foam lumbar or back support for your car and/or office chair can provide you with appropriate support while sitting for long periods of time. Back pain can be disruptive and annoying. After having your back examined and ruling out more serious causes, simple back ache can be treated at home.Many people suffer from regular back pain.

Back pain can crop up for many different reasons – age, weight, or sleeping improperly. These all impact on your day to day life. Regular back pain should not be ignored. It is extremely important to visit your doctor to make sure that your back pain is simply muscle tension or stress and not something more serious. Even simple muscle strain or back pain can affect your daily life dramatically.

What is causing your pain?

If you begin experiencing back pain on a regular basis, it is important to visit your doctor in order to determine the cause of the pain. Some of the most common causes of back pain are associated with stress, poor posture or even dehydration.

More serious problems

However, there are some more serious causes of back pain that must be ruled out by your doctor. For example, back pain could be caused by a problem with your kidneys. Bladder discomfort and localised pain or tenderness in your mid to lower back may indicate some form of kidney infection.

Common kidney infections can be treated with antibiotics, but it is important to treat them quickly so that no other complications arise. Also, back pain could be cause by a cyst or tumor on the spine. If you have undiagnosed back pain, you may need an MRI to make sure that you do not have either of these conditions.

While tumors and cysts can be surgically drained or removed, it is important to make sure that they are not indicators of a more serious problem like cancer.

Physiotherapy – an effective tool against back pain

Study and experiences prove that physiotherapy has been a very effective tool against both minor and major pains and injuries. The prescription of physiotherapy can never be a wrong one in case of curing pain or injury. Physiotherapy or physical therapy is a health care profession concerned with human movement.

It provides techniques to help speedy recovery and a quick return to normal life. People suffering from back pain realize the importance of physiotherapy. It gives faster relief and facilitates the patient’s recovery through massage, easy to practice exercises and stretches, heat therapy and traction.

About the Expert

Dr Fawad Ali is a physiotherapist with many year's experience. His treatments vary from massage and tissue manipulation – promoting increased blood circulation to the injured areas – to hot or cold treatments, or treatments using light and electricity.
Which treatment Dr Ali prescribes depend upon the type of health problems from which the patient is suffering.
He believes in the power of physiotherapy to help repair the body against muscular stresses and strains and says that physiotherapy can be a very effective tool against both minor and major pain and injuries. He uses techniques which are designed to speed

up recovery and help people return to a normal, free-moving and pain-free life after injury.
He uses a range of treatments which can be used to help people manage the effect of illness, accidents and disabilities. These can include regaining strength, relearning skills or finding new ways of doing day-to-day activities.
He also prescribes specially-designed exercises and long-term support for patients who are suffering from chronic medical conditions.